Remembrance of CWO Ralph Orlando

Ralph Orlando, from his personal
diary: "two US advisors KIA, plenty of action. UTT ship
shot down--Morgan and 3 KIA. Binh Gia was a big deal. Well over
100 ships. An elite ARVN Bn was lifted in the LZ and by 1/4/65
they were decimated with just traces of them left. This was also
the first time there was evidence of Chinese and North Vietnamese
fighting with the VC."

And in Ralph Orlando's log for 2/27/65:
"A CA to Binh Gia with 125 ships."

That was the last entry in Ralph's
log of any activity for the Binh Gia area. Charlie apparently
owned it and there was even talk for years to come that US troops
shared R & R at Vung Tau with Charlie!!

There is a wonderful detailed account of the Binh
Gia Campaign in Ralph Young's book, "Army Aviation in
Vietnam 1963-64" on pages 26 and 27. The account tells
of the shoot down of a 68th UTT gun ship, "Dragon" and
the daring rescue of CPT Behnke, Advisor, by CPT Johnson. In all,
several ships were shot down during the Campaign !

"I was there, riding left seat
with the Dragon Platoon Leader. I watched as they began to trail
smoke, then flames from a fuel cell fire. Then, as the tail boom
"drooped and separated: from the aircraft, I clearly saw
the nose dropping and the rotor disc then tilting back--in Roy's
clearly apparent attempt to keep the nose from dropping. Of course,
he couldn't over come the nose tucking condition caused by the
tail boom loss, and they crashed, not quite fully inverted, into
the rubber trees, just off the S.E. corner of the village."

"Another UTT-68th aircraft that
got shot down during that series of Binh Gia Operations(32 Dec
64-1 Jan 65) was commanded by WO Mark King."

Michael J. Davis

P. O. Box 1032

Pilot Point, TX 76258-1032

Remembrance of Rocky Lane

"On December 29, 1964, the
118th Avn Co. (Light) was tasked with several other units to
insert an ARVN unit in an area approximately 10 miles SE of Long
Thanh where there was hotile activity. The operation would start
at 06:30 with the US Air Force providing a smoke screen along
the tree line at the edge of the jungle. The ARVNs were trucked
into an abandoned airstrip in the Long Thanh area where they
were helicopter lifted to the smoke screened LZ.

There was considerable exchange of fire
during the assault. We were to return to the pick-up area for
a second lift when upon reaching formation altitude the aircraft
behind me informed me that my aircraft had a vapor trail. A few
minuted later our hydraulic light began to fluxuations. I decided
to put down at a French rubber plantions about 2 minutes later.
We landed without problems and found four bullet holes entering
the engine compartment and one through the skid.

As we took off, leaving the area a few
minutes later we observed a Gunship in full autorotation and
leaving a trail of black smoke at about 500 ft. altitude. The
Gunship crashed about 1 mile from our location. We landed at
the crash site almost immediately to find the aircraft had landed
in an overgorwn area and rolled over into a hole on it's side
and burning.

We climbed up the side to pull the door
open and lift the pilot and co-pilot from the cockpit. They were
handed to us by the crew-chief and gunner because their inturies
rendered them immobile. We slide them down the side of the aircraft
and carried them some distance away. They were evacuated later
by another aircraft back to Bien Hoa.

I later was returned to the base uninjured.
During the course of these activited, I took about 8 photos with
a small cigarette-sized camera that I had placed in my "chicken-plate"
vest. The man assisting the injured pilot with his right arm
around him and wearing sunglasses was the S-3 Operations Officer
for the 145th CAB, Maj Paul R. Henderson."

"The Four Captains"

L to R: Jack Islin, 1st Plt Cmdr ; Jim Thompson,
Bandit Cmdr ;

Ron Hill, 2nd Plt Cmdr & Pearce "Rocky"
Lane 118th Opns Officer. (64)

(Photo courtesy Pearce "Rocky" Lane)

Crashed Huey on fire (64)

(Photo Courtesy Pearce "Rocky"
Lane)

MAJ Henderson and unidentified pilot

and other crewmembers helping injured

pilot away from burning aircraft. (64)

(Photo courtesy Pearce "Rocky"
Lane)

Injured pilot being helped by

unidentified pilot. (64)

(Photo courtesy Pearce "Rocky"
Lane)

Setting up area for injured safely away

from burning helicopter. (64)

(Photo courtesy Pearce "Rocky"
Lane)

Burning aircraft after crew extracted. (64)

(Photo courtesy Pearce "Rocky"
Lane)

Bullet holes in belly of Pearce "Rocky"

Lane's aircraft. (64)

(Photo courtesy Pearce "Rocky"
Lane)

Bullet holes on Pearce "Rocky" Lane's
UH-1B (Below Thunderbird)(64)

(Photo courtesy Pearce "Rocky" Lane)

Great photo of a 120th Avn Co UH-1B Gunship
launching a 2.75" folding fin rocket in